


Natural Color

by Lauren (notalwaysweak)



Category: Order of the Stick
Genre: Other, Yuletide 2012
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-21
Updated: 2012-12-21
Packaged: 2017-11-21 20:38:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/601831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notalwaysweak/pseuds/Lauren
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>V/Haley. Haley has some questions. V may or may not have the answers she wants.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Natural Color

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ilbandornisin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ilbandornisin/gifts).



> Order of the Stick characters belong to Rich Burlew, not me. Happy Yuletide Ilbandornis!

It wasn’t that Vaarsuvius didn’t like rooming with Haley. It was infinitely preferable to sharing a room with anyone else, for a number of reasons. However, when it was time to focus on spell memorization, the rogue could be downright annoying.

“Does anyone ever ask you if your hair color’s natural?” she was asking as Vaarsuvius tried to memorize a simple cantrip that was on the first page of the blasted spellbook. She was brushing her hair; it glistened like copper in the firelight and Vaarsuvius tried very hard not to comment on how pretty it was, as if Haley was carrying around a secret treasure trove in the form of her gleaming hair.

“I happen to be an elven wizard. Nobody ever asks me mundane questions like that. They’re usually too busy asking even more mundane and banal questions, like whether I can make them a love potion or whether elves really do mate for life.”

Haley came over to where Vaarsuvius was sitting at the small desk and began wielding her hairbrush with fierce concentration. Vaarsuvius’s eyes drifted shut. It really was quite relaxing, having one’s hair brushed; Haley was deft-fingered and adept at working out the few knots that dared entangle Vaarsuvius’s hair, and the spell memorization could wait a little while.

“So is it?”

“Is what it... what?”

“Is your hair color natural?”

“Yes. Is yours?”

Haley laughed. “Come on, V. You’ve seen me get changed for bed. You know I’m red all over.”

Unexpectedly, Vaarsuvius’s cheeks burned at the thought. Haley had simply stripped off for bed without so much as a warning the first time that they’d shared a room, and although she slept in light clothes suitable for a quick change, she’d had to get completely naked to get into them, and in close quarters it was hard not to look.

“What about the love potion?”

“I would not make a love potion. If someone is going to love you, it has to be on your own merits.” Vaarsuvius sighed. “If someone is even going to _like_ you, it has to be on your own merits. Love isn’t something to be meddled with. It has its own conditions to be met, and none of them can be fulfilled with the administration of a mere potion.”

Haley started absently braiding Vaarsuvius’s hair. “And the mating for life part?”

“ _Life_ is a long time for elves. Some do. Inkyrius and I...” Vaarsuvius wasn’t sure how to finish the sentence. “There’s my traveling, and there’s no guarantee that, as an adventurer, I’ll get to go home again, and it would be unfair to expect Kyrie to wait for me, especially with the children.”

Haley’s fingers paused, then started circling Vaarsuvius’s scalp. “So what about you, when you’re on the road? Do you ever, you know, think about anyone else?”

“Maybe.” Vaarsuvius was trying for cryptic but she’d found that spot just below one pointed ear that... _oh_. The effort required not to start purring like a cat was immense.

“It’s a lot of time to spend on the road and _not_ think about at least your fellow adventurers.” Haley paused, fingers still working that one spot, like she’d figured out there was a secret lock there and was just trying to work out how to spring it. “Except maybe Belkar.”

“You mean you’ve thought about them?” Vaarsuvius hoped that countering her incessant questions with a question would stop her asking them.

“Well, sure. Only out of idle curiosity, mostly. I mean, I wouldn’t really think Durkon would go for it, because he’s too, you know, lawful. Same with Roy, really, although I do wonder if he’s compensating for anything with that sword. Elan’s... well, Elan. He’s pretty, but sometimes he frustrates me with how stupid he can be.”

“I think we all think that at times,” Vaarsuvius commented.

“So that leaves you.”

“You’ve... thought about me?”

“I just said I’d thought about my fellow adventurers, didn’t I?”

“Except Belkar.”

“Which doesn’t rule you out, so don’t pretend you don’t know.” Haley’s hands moved down to Vaarsuvius’s shoulders.

 Vaarsuvius sighed again. “Do you want me to ask you what you thought about me, or do you want to stop playing games, Miss Starshine?”

Haley winced. “Ouch. Am I in trouble for speculating?”

Vaarsuvius turned to look up at her. Those copper locks really were most enticing, and they were pleasant to run one’s fingers through. Haley closed her eyes and tilted her head, and Vaarsuvius stood up, following solely instinct now, not bothering to resist wondering any longer about how Haley’s mouth might feel if she would just be quiet for a moment and let...

She tasted of salt pork and bread, of red wine and a warm taste underneath it all that was just Haley, and she returned the kiss with an ardor Vaarsuvius had not expected, but that was not at all unwelcome. She tasted a little of starshine, too, yes... her teeth hard behind her lips the glint of starlight off a dagger, but when her lips parted and her tongue slipped into Vaarsuvius’s mouth everything that was softness about her overtook the sharper edges, and this time when Vaarsuvius sighed it was out of pleasure.

“Are there any other questions you’ve been pondering?” Vaarsuvius asked when they separated at last, Haley’s arms still twined around Vaarsuvius’s neck, fingers playing with that damnably intimate spot below the ear.

“Well, the entire party’s been wondering for ages whether you have, you know, a sword or a scabbard underneath that pretty silk robe of yours...” Haley caught Vaarsuvius’s puzzled look. “Sex, V. Not weaponry.”

“If you’re referring to my gender, I hardly think that it matters.”

“It doesn’t. At least, it doesn’t to me.” Haley slipped one hand down Vaarsuvius’s back, savoring the feeling of said silk robe under her fingertips, if the look on her face was anything to judge by. “I promise I won’t tell.”

“Does that mean you want to find out?”

Haley’s hungry kiss was more than enough answer, but Vaarsuvius was rather glad that she accompanied it with an unsubtle robe-yank toward the bed. 

Less pleasing – but rather amusing – was her laugh when she finally pulled the robe out of the way and ran her fingers through Vaarsuvius’s soft purple curls.

“So it _is_ your natural color.”

“I told you so,” Vaarsuvius returned, pulling her into another kiss. She probably had more questions now, but now was not the time. Now was the time for two fellow adventurers to share a night out from dungeon crawling and engage in a different kind of exploration.

 


End file.
